Oct 10, 2014

Nuclear War Now! Productions sets November 25th as the international release date for Order From Chaos' long-awaited Frozen in Steel vinyl-discography
boxset. It is a nearly axiomatic principle that the most truly
important artists tend to be overlooked or at least do not obtain the
full extent of their deserved accolades during the time they produce
their greatest work. Even in the context of underground metal, this
principle is too often proven accurate. Such is the case with Order From Chaos. During the short span of the band’s existence, Order From Chaos garnered
emphatic support from a relatively small faction of the underground,
but went largely unnoticed by the scene at large. As time passed,
however, the scene began to catch up with Order From Chaos and their albums attained their well-deserved canonical stature.

Shortly after the three Kansas City, MO teenagers – Pete Helmkamp, Chuck Keller, and Mike Miller – united to form Order From Chaos in
1987, they clarified their mission: they would channel all their
creative energy into the band, perfect the presentation of their
message, and terminate the project after three albums in order to
preserve the integrity of their statement. The band members adhered to
this directive, and after recording three albums (augmenting their
discography along the way with various demo and EP releases), they
disbanded in 1995 following the completion of their magnum opus, An Ending in Fire.

To bring the music of Order From Chaos into
proper focus, the band (the members of which have all remained
continually active in the underground metal scene since their days in Order From Chaos) worked together with Nuclear War Now! Productions to produce this definitive discography collection. Frozen in Steel contains
all of the material Order From Chaos released during its existence.
Included here are all the demos and early EPs revealing the band’s
obsession with the likes of Venom, Sodom, Slaughter Lord, and Voivod
among others. Listening to the demos, one hears the raw materials out of
which Order From Chaos would later construct its definitive monumental statement of intent, the debut album Stillbirth Machine.
While clearly maintaining the integrity of their approach on previous
releases, the debut album extends beyond the confines of any
particularized genre or subgenre; instead, it reflects a style that is
wholly and completely that of Order From Chaos.

With their second album, Dawn Bringer, Order From Chaos’ ability to refine their sound became remarkably apparent. As with any genuine musician, author, or artist, OrderFrom Chaos was not content with remaining static, and Dawn Bringer shows
the band expanding the borders of its sonic and thematic universe. Its
inclusion in this boxset marks the first time the album has ever been
committed to vinyl. Finally, if their first two albums and their
impeccable collection of shorter EP releases did not secure Order From Chaos’ legacy, their final album, An Ending in Fire, is irrefutable proof of the band’s genius. It is, in fact, nothing short of a masterpiece.

In addition to these releases, Frozen in Steel contains
several rare and/or previously unreleased rehearsal and live recordings
to provide the listener with the full spectrum of Order From Chaos’
dynamics. For the diehard edition, the band culled from its massive
collection of rehearsal and live recordings those with the highest
fidelity and selected them for inclusion. Accompanying the musical
content is a 124-page hardbound book featuring a complete bio written by
the band members, numerous previously unseen photos from their personal
collections, a thorough discography, reprinted pages from the Order From Chaos zines the band produced, and a complete presentation of the lyrics. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Dec 11, 2013

Press releases can be little funny bastards, more often than not. Case in point: Avantgarde's Abigor one. No matter what words you would want to use, it's crystal clear those 2 songs are remnants of a failed project from 1997, and all possible 2013 tweaking, re-mixing and newly recorded vocal lines couldn't help turning those from turd to gold.

Right, Silenius is back on the vocal duties. Big deal - those vocals largely fall flat, much in the same vein when Bethlehem tried something similar. The music pretty much epitomizes what was wrong with the more “advanced” and “experimental” (quasi-/ex-) black metal bands in the second part of the '90s: No soul, heart or real dark passion is present. Stiff, in a word. Layered with synths overpowering the thin sounding guitars. Anemic, pseudo-industrial drumming. You know the drill.

At any rate, Abigor (Who, in 20 years, I've never heard anyone, fellow metalhead or musician, citing as a fave band) is here again with a newly released 7” nobody asked for and a new album to follow. “Abigor is, and still makes, the history of european black metal” (sic). At least there's no mention what kind of history it is. 3.5 / 10

Dec 10, 2013

By now everybody and his dog should know what NunSlaughter stands for – death metal, cooked in Satan's very own kitchen, using the right ingredients from the glorious '80s. Timeless, not outdated ingredients, mind you. Apparently this 58-song double CD here is first in a Herculean task of offering all vinyl EPs ever released by the band (tons upon tons of those exist, don't you know?) on shiny little silver discs.

Vol. I is jam-packed with poisoned tunes from various splits and EPs of all sorts – studio, live and rehearsal and you would be hard pressed finding a dirtier, uglier or more Jesus-bashing package elsewhere. You dig the sound of Repulsion, Master or Slaughter? Of course you do! NunSlaughter combine all that and more in their tunes, and filter those influences through a pile of unwashed priest's robes covered in filth, spunk and virgin's blood. And there's no end in sight. Bon appetite! 8 / 10

Let me assure you there's no shortage of bands and labels firing digital promos my way, and often I'm in shudders when the time comes for the weekly ritual of downloading files and unzipping folders. In shudders, because some of those promos are total duds I don't have much / any use of – and for some reason big percentage of those come either from bands with strange monikers, or from Italy, or both.

Well, Funest fall in the latter category, but for once it was worth the trouble. Solidly played and produced, crunchy, no ifs and buts, fast-paced death metal, which, as the press sheet confirms, owes much to the glory days of Swedish bands such as Nihilist, Grave and Dismember / Carnage for its sheer straightforwardness and catchiness. Right, this is a stroll into a familiar territory for most of us, but a pleasant one for sure, with ripping guitars, Estby-esque drumming and low, barking vocals, so I'm all for it. Spain's own Memento Mori had already signed the band for a full-length to be released sometime in 2014, meanwhile this demo is available in limited quantities and different formats from the labels above (and the band themselves, I presume) and if you are getting a hard-on when the words “death”, “metal” and “Sweden” are used together in a sentence, I'd say this is a safe buy. 7.5 / 10

Hells Headbangers is one of the pillars of the scene and I'm digging the hell of most of their releases, but Shitfucker stand out as a sore thumb. A sinister mutant offspring of Venom and GG Allin this is not, if that was the intention. What it is, however, is an anti-elaborated mixture of simplistic primitive metal, raw and sloppy punk rhythms and something that supposedly should be passing for infernal rock'n'roll, yet there's very little substance to the tunes that might give you the urge playing the album more than couple of times.

There's no accounting in taste, true, yet when 7 non-lengthy songs (plus an intro and outro) sound like boring 2-hour listening experience, one knows the said album doesn't cut the mustard. Those three guys make Gehennah sound like technical wizards, I'll give them that - but nothing else. Hopefully Shitfucker is having autistic good time playing this stuff, or else all is in vain. Bands like Abigail and Barbatos are light years ahead of Shitfucker if you're craving similar sound and style. Also, for bands having “Shit” in their name, I'd personally stick to Shitlickers, thanks. 4 / 10

The Belgian scene has never been considered a cult one, sure, yet the last ten years or so could be considered a particular low point in its development, with only Monads being the band worth talking about. Particularly I was quite thrilled reading the following news brought by the nuclear November rain: “The Association For Primitive Metal Art”, led by its honorable mentors Sodom, Destruction and Bathory (versions up until '85, naturlich) gladly welcomes to its ranks the new Belgian craftsmen Possession, wishing them tons of upcoming success”.

Note the “upcoming” bit though, because as of now there's still much to be desired from the band, no matter how high nostalgia factor might be crammed into those 4 songs for the undying, beer-drinking old schooler: Purposefully mean production, music that's 50/50 thrash and black, cover version of Sepultura's “Necromancer” - all is well, just not exceptionally praiseworthy. That said, it would be interesting witnessing what the future holds for Possession, probably soon I could add their name as another band from the land of the thousands monastic brews to my faves list. 'His Best Deceit' oozes with lovely Neanderthal-like charm and is a decent first effort, yet more individual sound won't do any harm to this band. 7 / 10

Each and every intie I've read with Jon McEntee is characterized by couple of things, namely his undying and unquestionable passion for producing and consuming death fuckin' metal and his devotion to the main band he's playing with, Incantation. Incantation, the beast he had started in 1989 alongside another visionary, Paul Ledney, following both of them abandoning Revenant for the good reason of not being thrilled by the perspective of that band's change to more acceptable, thrashier and technical style. Soon after Ledney splits with Incantation, only to form Profanatica, but that's another chapter for the history books.

Incantation have never been destiny's darlings, and the zillions line-up changes might have done them some disfavour over the years, yet the stubbornness, the hard work and (most importantly) the high quality songs and albums they've released paid off in the long run. It might have taken a while, 15 years or so, for the metallic underground to catch on and cover itself in hectolitres of goats blood but there's no denying Incantation's unholy and putrid atmosphere is an integral part in the music created by all those bands who are buzzing these days in the underground circles, be it Necros Christos, Teitanblood or Grave Miasma etc. etc..

So, 'Mortal Throne Of Nazarene' – 19 years after its original release date this album is still as inhumanly aggressive and brutal as ever, a near-perfect mixture of freaking speed and soul-crushing slower passages. Add to this those gurgling vocals courtesy of good ole Craig Pillard, the merciless drumming, well audible bass lines and the typical ultra-heavyweight riffage the band is known for and you're facing 8 death gems that have easily stood the test of time. This is also the first ever vinyl outing for 'Mortal Throne...' and there's no excuse not purchasing this, even if that translates to “no presents for Christmas” to your family and relatives. 9 / 10

Aug 1, 2013

To hell with the cynicism –
I’m really glad to report Acid Death is back. Not only that, but the band seems
to be doing pretty well these days, having released an album, entitled
‘Eidolon’, for the Austrian NoiseHead
Records in 2012, and now offering ‘Misled’ for free download via their website.
Long it might continue!

“Why should I care about the
return of Acid Death?” I hear you murmuring. Because they’re such a good band,
that’s why. A rare breed of a band too, one of the numerous few which are truly
meant to be creating and playing progressive death metal, no matter what the flavor
of the month dictates – and that’s exactly what they’ve been doing since the
band’s inception in the late 80s. Respect!

Downloading and giving a
thorough listen to ‘Misled’ might very well be the perfect starting point if
one is tempted to check out if Acid Death’s music could be relevant to his/her
tastes. While far too many bands have made fools of themselves re-recording
songs from their past catalog the same certainly doesn’t apply to those five
tunes the Greek wizards have dug out from the vaults, and breathed new life
into. Technical to an uncompromising degree, true – but also retaining real
thrash / death aggression, with plenty of catchy riffs and solos, tempo
changes, prominent bass lines and the raging thrash vocals of Savvas.

I can’t believe how impressive
this stuff actually is, especially as four out of the five songs being
re-worked stuff from the band’s 1995 split LP with Avulsed, and “Balance Of
Power” originally penned even earlier than that. Welcome back, Acid Death!
[8,5 / 10]

Yes, this is a tape only
release, fuckin deal with it. All formats have their pros and cons, and there’s
just something about cassettes that makes them commendably underground. What
really matters is the music, right? And, musically both bands are here to burn
their mark on the listener’s mind.

Out of the two, Altars are
certainly the harder nut to be cracked, consumed and digested. In fact, there’s
this ghastly, uneasy feel creeping out from these two dismal songs that the
more sensitive listener might be tempted to skip listening to them altogether,
in order to keep one’s sanity intact. Good luck. The horrific atmosphere, the
seamless combination of tempos, the subterranean vocals – Altars is a band that
you better keep an eye on. Praise the horror. [8,5 / 10]

Heaving Earth is seriously
awesome as well, just in a totally different way than Altars. Complex, stellar
guitar riffs and quirky solos, monstrous vocals, punishing rhythms - I’d say
bands such as Immolation and Morbid Angel are some of the obvious influences
here. And that’s meant as a compliment to Heaving Earth, in case you’ve been
wondering. If a band could replicate the unearthly vibe of those two bands I
say more power to them! [8 / 10]

Jul 31, 2013

"I'm Going Slightly Mad" - not exactly a song line and a melody I'd be expecting to find stuck inside my brain waking up on a early Saturday morning. I mean, fuck this - Queen, out of all bands? But then again Bestial Warlust's "Heathens" ain't known for its sing-songy qualities, unless I'm completely missing out something.

Speaking of missing something out big time - writing for this very webzine/blog/whateveryoucallit, that's what I was missing. Bad decisions on my part, lack of certain focus and motivation, writer's block - all these and more stacked up and led to the extended hiatus of Dead Void Dreams.

No more excuses, "ifs" or "buts" now. The zine is back. I'll give a call to those fine writers who have been helping me so far to see who's up for continuing. New blood is also welcome - drop me a line if contributing to a Metal zine is your gig.

About the Metal part: As much as I'd love to review everything sent our way, that's not going to happen. There's only that much free time me and the contributors could afford to spend on zine related matters. Keep sending promos if you are inclined, just be very aware we will be cherry picking when it comes to what gets reviewed. Try to keep it into the realms of Death, Black, Doom, Thrash, Crust and (non-wimpy) Heavy Metal and Punk, and we are off to a good start. We won't be spreading your material illegally, that's positive so don't be shy and get in touch if you're deeming your tunes worthy of attention.

From now on I'm also dropping those YouTube videos from the reviews, along with some other changes/tweaks in the design. Blogger is a bug ridden enough even without these and there's search engines a plenty for you to use and abuse.

Masada 'Hideous Rot' cassette out now

5 songs (both new and old) of unpolished underground Death Metal brought to you by current / former members of IMMOLATION, GOREAPHOBIA, CRUCIFIER, GRAND BELIAL'S KEY and RELLIK. Also features a bizarre contribution from Clive Jones of the legendary 70s Occult Rock band BLACK WIDOW!